Happy Royal Wedding Eve everyone! Are you waking up tomorrow for the big show? The mature, busy, adult me knows that its crazy to wake up in the middle of the night for this, but the little girl inside me is SO EXCITED.
So, day after day literally for the last month everyone and their mother has weighed in on the most pressing international issue the world has ever faced - What Will Kate Wear!?
And I have been repulsed by most of the predictions. Every morning the Today Show trolls out four or five of the most horrifying wedding gowns modeled by homely girls that don't even look vaguely like the magnificent Kate and its just so disappointing.
And then I open up US weekly and see fashion illustration sketches by all the major design houses predicting Kate's gown and they are completely unrealistic and unflattering. I'm sorry but I just don't think Kate is going to wear an entire dead swan worth of feathers over her left hip or a medieval wizardry costume on the day she marries into royalty.
If she was smart enough to somehow figure out how to get the king of England to marry her, shes smart enough not to look crazy doing it. Sorry, I'm all fired up. But why make these bridal forecasts if you are not going to be practical about it?
Which is what lead me to make a prediction of my own in the form of the above sketch. This is what I hope Kate looks like. I'll love whatever she wears because shes just naturally tasteful but this is what I am imagining her in.
I have it on good authority from an actual real live bride who has tried on this Monique Lhuilier dress that it fits beautifully. And I hope she chooses one of the more organic, youthful tiaras instead of the huge architectural ones. Well no, maybe I do like those better. I could think about royal tiaras all day every day and never decide which is my favorite.
And she has such perfect hair so I hope she has it down. Her hair is her thing, if its up I don't think I'll recognize her!
So there you have it. What is your prediction??

In the spirit of the approaching Valentines weekend, here is some love themed art.
This is an illustration I did for Kristin and Reagan of Kristin Newman Designs - an event planning and design firm based in Charleston, SC. Not only did Reagan and I both graduate from W&L, but we're sisters of the key. Kappa konnections!
So it was only fitting that we should collaborate on this little project. This sketch is a portrait of one of the brides whose wedding they recently styled and planned and they're going to give it to her as a thank you gift.
Isn't she lovely? And aren't Kristin and Reagan lovely for thinking of this unique thank you gift? You too could be this thoughtful.... just email me! I love painting wedding gowns!

(that title should be read in the voice of Meryl Streep as Julia Child)
Today I have been drawing wedding themed stuff non-stop. Some of my clients have requested bridal illustrations and I have been drawing bouquets and bustiers since day-break. I thought you all might like to see a glimpse of what I've been working on!
click here to buy prints of these illustrations